It’s 7 months since El Salvador adopted Bitcoin as legal tender. Now, Bitso, which is the exchange in charge of handling BTC transactions via the special Chivo wallet, claims that El Salvadorians are adopting the crypto at an impressive rate. Bitso is a South American crypto exchange based out of Mexico and has a foothold in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and now El Salvador.
However, Bitso exchange is only present in El Salvador solely to facilitate liquidity and enable the government to buy BTC through the Chivo wallet. According to Felipe Vallejo, who is one of the top execs at Bitso, Bitcoin adoption has gone a long way in El Salvador in the 7 months that the company has facilitated the wallet. That’s despite the wallet’s initial setbacks.
Paying bills is easier with Bitcoin
One reason that has endeared BTC to so many people in El Salvador is the ease of doing business with it. Using the Chivo wallet, people can now pay bills like electricity charges without having to move around a lot. This has proven to be a great incentive especially due to its time-saving advantage.
El Salvadorians have welcomed cryptos better than bank accounts
In a recent statement, Felipe Vallejo said that the Chivo crypto wallet has made transactions fast, cheaper, and more secure. A study by the National Bureau of Economic Research revealed that 40% of El Salvadorians who downloaded and started using the Chivo crypto wallet are still using it even after exhausting the initial $30 loaded by the government.
An earlier tweet by the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, revealed that a huge percentage of people in the South American country are unbanked. A comparative assessment of those using the Chiva wallet indicates that the citizens are more receptive to Bitcoin than bank accounts.
The need for education
According to the Bitso executive, lack of education and ignorance remain the biggest challenges currently facing Bitcoin adoption. To counter this, both Chivo and Bitso crypto exchange are making efforts together to educate people about cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology. Besides rolling out such an educational program in El Salvador, the two entities have also done the same in other Latin American countries like Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, and Mexico.
